Former S Class and Division 3 Champion Karan Patel has been seeded first in the season-opening KCB Guru Nanak Rally.
The former East Africa Motocross 85cc Champion will lead 24 drivers off the ramp at KCB Kitengela Branch on Sunday.
Driving a Ford Fiesta R5, Karan will be followed by Eric Bengi (Evo10), Tejveer Rai (VW Polo), Ian Duncan in his crowd-pleasing Nissan Patrol Pick up, Carl Tundo with his EVO 10, Onkar Rai (VW Polo) and champion Baldev Chager in a R4 Evo 10..
The weekend event will traverse stages at Stoni Athi, Kifaru and SGR whose repeat run is the designated power stage.
Karan leads the pack in the new rotational system of 8 KNRC Premier Class drivers gunning for honors in the 2020 season.
Chager aka ‘Flying Singh’ will be hoping to kick-start his defense on a high note. He first won the Sikh Union-organized round in 2004 navigated by the late Farakh Yusuf in a Subaru. He returns behind the wheels of his traditional Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 hoping to beat the VW Polo R5’s of his teammate Tejveer and Onkar Ra and Tundo’s Evolution 10.
The R5s have a proven performance on short flat out stretches while Evo drivers like Chager and Tundo have savored long endurance setting of Nanyuki nature.
Ian Duncan is the most successful driver on Guru Nanak having won a record 11 editions in different car makes.
KCB GURU NANAK PROVISIONAL START ORDER
1 Karan Patel/James Mwangi (Ford Fiesta)
2 Eric Bengi/Peter Mutuma (EVO 10)
3 Tejveer Rai/Gavin Lawrence (VW Polo)
4 Ian Duncan /Tej Sehmi (Nissan Patrol)
5 Carl Tundo /Tim Jessop (EVO 10)
6 Onkar Rai/Stuart Loudon (VW Polo)
7 Baldev Chager /Ravi Soni (EVO 10)
8 Jasmeet Chana/Ravi Chana (EVO 10)
9 Issa Amwari/Job Njiru (EVO 10)
10 Yasin Nasser/Ali Katumba (Subaru Impreza)
11 Izhar Mirza/Kashif Shaikh (EVO 10)
12 Nikhil Sachania/Deep Patel (EVO 10)
13 Edward Maina/Edward Njoroge Subaru Impreza)
14 McRae Kimathi/Evans Mwenda (Subaru Impreza)
15 Steve Mwangi /Dennis Mwenda (Subaru Impreza)
1 Christakis Fitidis/Eric Nzamwita (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)
17 (29) Geoff Mayes/Suzanne Zwager (Lexus Baja)
18 (32) Evans Kavisi/Absolom Aswani (Subaru Impreza)
19 (46) Moez Malik/Steve Njenga (Subaru Impreza)
20 52) Manmeet Puee/Gurveer Pandhal (EVO10 )
21 34) Daren Miranda/Wayne/Fernandes (Subaru)
22 Ramesh Vishram/Riyaz Ismail (Ford Escort MK2)
23 Kailesh Chauhan/Adnan Din (Ford Escort)
24 Aslam Khan/Arshad Khan (Porsche 911)
25 Albert Kigen/Tony Gichohi (VW Golf